The Reemergence of One Lost in His Own Heart
by C.B. Magique
Summary: Then... is Roxas gone? Ven finally has to face the music. Now Sora has to reconcile with his mother, his little sister and eventually, himself. What will become of a changing personality? Is there still place for you at home?
1. Ven

I deleted my last Kingdom Hearts story because I wasn't going anywhere with it. Instead, I posted this, which is just a little thing describing a theory I have about Ven in Birth by Sleep. It is based on anything I already know about the game through scans, mock-up ads and a Jump Festa trailer which was illegally filmed and then put on Youtube. I personally think it's a good theory. Also, it might seem a little bit weird at the beginning but try not to let that put you off (otherwise you're going to miss the really important theory).

So, I present to you my theory in all of its glory.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any character affiliated with Disney or Square Enix

* * *

_Sora… I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever find it in your infinite heart to forgive me?_

_Never… I'm sorry. But still…_

_Thank-you…_

--

Ven appeared before a council.

He assumed the room was round – the floor was round – but he could see no walls or ceiling. There were stars in the blackness around him and stained glass windows in blue and purple floral designs. Above the windows was a white ring of indeterminable material with several people seated upon it. They were just dolls; figureheads to represent a real person somewhere out there in the universe. They were perfect down to the secrets hidden in their minds. He recognised a group of seven girls as the Princesses of Heart staring down at him. Lock, Shock and Barrel sat together beside Sally discussing the next bit of trouble they would cause. A black-maned lion lay sprawled out with his tail hanging down on the other side and a blue toucan sat on his back. Simba sat next to them, tall and proud. Squall Leonhart looked stoic as usual. Aerith seemed strangely sympathetic yet pleased at the same time. The King and Queen of Disney Castle sat side-by-side with a lanky-limbed, yellow dog. Megara crossed her arms and legs while Hades' assistants sat quietly beside her. Mulan had a seat beside the enchanted candelabra and clock of Beast's Castle. Aladdin broke a stolen melon and shared it with his monkey friend while they waited for something to happen. For some reason, Jane was alone until she was joined by Wendy and two lost boys. Ariel and her blonde mermaid friend swung their tails from their seats. Ven had no idea why Axel was there. Tidus, Wakka and Selphie sat in a group chatting idly. Riku preferred to sit in isolation.

Ven looked down from the audience and swallowed as he prepared to confront Sora – every last piece of him. Each had his own mini-throne. The ever-cocky and confident Valour form sat with one foot resting on his knee. Wisdom form sighed and netted his hands on his knees. Master form sent him a very calculating glare. Final form was the only one who showed any inkling of sympathy. The vampiric form examined his claws, wishing he was somewhere else. The merman's dolphin tail seemed to have as much flexibility as the mermaids' fish tails as he sat on his mini-throne looking apprehensive. A lion cub sat on his throne pawing at the seat every now and again. The techno form sat upright staring blankly. Anti-form didn't have his own chair. He stood and wandered around and between the mini-thrones every so often. He wasn't expected to speak anyway (to tell the truth, nobody knew if he could). Most important of all was the default Sora. He wasn't looking at Ven; he was staring at the floor. A little Sora approached from nowhere, it seemed, flanked by Donald Duck and Goofy. He broke away from his guardians and climbed up onto the default's lap. The default turned his gaze towards the boy and smiled. Donald and Goofy took up their respective places at default Sora's flank. Finally, the default Sora looked at Ven.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

Ven lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry…"

"As you should be," the lion barked suddenly.

"Shush!" Master form snapped, bringing a finger to his lips. "We're here to talk about the fate of Sora's heart, whether or not you're sorry is irrelevant."

"First of all," the techno form began, "why is Sora able to use the Keyblade? Riku was the desired wielder at first. It cannot be that the weapon simply changed its mind."

"Why isn't that a possibility?" asked the merman. "Isn't the one with the strongest heart allowed to control the Keyblade over everybody else? In short, isn't he the master if he simply chooses for his heart to be stronger?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Wisdom form replied. "You can't choose to have a stronger heart. It either is or it isn't."

"How ironic that the most puzzling element of the person can be so simple," the vampire mused.

"Focus!" Master form yelled. "Ven, would you shed some light on this?"

Ven glanced at the default. He was watching the child on his lap swing his legs. When his gaze switched it didn't fall on Ven, it went to Anti-form, skulking around behind the windows. He furrowed his eyebrows, hoping that he didn't wander too far away.

"Well," Ven said, "it was my fault."

Final form frowned. "Why did you do this?"

"To fulfil a promise and because I couldn't let history repeat itself. I had to correct Xehanort's mistake."

Master form shook his head. "Did you ever think that-?"

"And did you think this was all you could do?" Valour form interrupted. Master form snapped his mouth shut and glared at him. "Are you that much of a coward that you would rather taint an innocent soul than destroy the potential danger at the source yourself?"

"How the hell was going to do that?" Ven blurted out. "That Riku was the one who was corrupted in the first place."

"Don't talk about Riku that way!" growled the lion. "It's just about you and us now."

"Guillotine!" Master form snapped. "We've already established the reasons. Only ask appropriate questions."

"Why did you ask Terra to erase you?" asked Wisdom form. Master form bristled at being ignored. "Surely that would have the destroyed the purpose of becoming Sora."

Ven looked at his feet. "The original idea was that if I sent my heart to Kingdom Hearts, attacking the power source, I would start a chain reaction, in which a powerful interruption could be caused by a powerful heart joining the Great Heart while simultaneously an outside source tried to drain the power. A rupture would be caused in the Great Heart causing the energy to crash in and rip it apart, thus Kingdom Hearts would collapse and there would be no source."

"Are you serious?" Valour said. "Were you people dumb or just plain ignorant?"

"Neither," techno Sora said. "The battles of Terra, Ven and Xehanort predate the most revealing experiments of Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. Furthermore, when the results were published they were not made available to the general population for public safety and social order issues."

"Nevertheless, it is still-" Master form started.

"So you must have realised that that wasn't going to work," Valour said, interrupting Master yet again.

"There were too many variables, the timing would be important," Ven explained. "It was too complicated. I couldn't spend time planning it and while I was debating with myself the world was falling to pieces."

Anti-form crept closer, ducked behind Final form's mini-throne.

"How was it that Riku became so corrupted when Sora didn't? I mean, before you took things into your own hands," Final form asked.

"It was just his personality," Ven replied. "And his fate. Like Terra he was born to _be_ the Keyblade Master."

"Only he didn't get to," the vampire finished with a grin.

Ven sighed. "No…"

"Why did Sora win?" Final form asked.

"Guillotine!" Master form decided. "This conversation is getting off topic."

"Ven only did what needed to be done," techno answered.

"Shut up!" Master shouted. "Necessity doesn't denounce the wrongness of it."

"Why don't you shut up?" Valour retorted. "We're not just arguing ethics here, we're talking one little boy versus the rest of the universe."

Donald and Goofy coughed. Valour rolled his eyes.

"Okay, one little boy and his stooges."

"We are arguing ethics!" Master form argued. "Ven comes here to ask for forgiveness! There's no way we can forgive him! Why are you objecting?"

"Hey, we all agreed that we can't forgive him," the lion added.

"We don't object," said the merman, after being quiet for so long. "What we need is answers. Why can Sora use the Keyblade? What will befall Sora if Ven is disposed of? Does Ven even exist anymore?"

"Who exactly are we talking to? Roxas?" Wisdom asked. "Technically, I think we are. After all, you did reappear after Sora lost his heart, but not so much because Sora lost his heart; it was because your semi-fused hearts were split by the dark Keyblade. Kairi's heart couldn't really be inside Sora, could it? But, Sora could give his heart to Kairi, effectively liberating the light that had been blocked by the darkness trying to seize it. Kairi's heart had no darkness within it, so it was impossible for her to become corrupted and lose it in such a trivial manner."

"It could not be that Kairi lost her heart," techno Sora clarified, "because to lose one's heart to the darkness, it must have its own inner corruption that foreign darkness can exploit."

"Then there's a bit of a problem," the vampire said, finally getting interested. "Ven reappeared – or should we say: Roxas was created – when Sora lost his heart. Why did Sora regain a body upon the return of his heart from Kairi? Surely, the heart would have to return to the Nobody."

"True, unless," Wisdom explained, "when Sora released his own heart by committing suicide, he actually split Ven's heart in order to free his own thus leaving the original body with one half of Ven's heart and the split body with the rejected half of Ven's heart. Half a heart is too weak for a body to sustain without being overrun by darkness, hence Sora became a Heartless. Ven, on the other hand, was re-embodied by the darkness, hence making him a Nobody with half a heart. So, Sora's Nobody was Ven's Nobody and had Ven's heart not been present at that time, Sora would have become an ordinary Heartless with a thirst for hearts and nothing more."

"We owe Ven," the lion grudgingly admit. "Even if we don't want to forgive him and we don't want him in here anymore, we owe him. Sora knows he owes Ven big time and that's why he's allowed him to stay on so long."

"Oh no!" Master form said, shaking his finger. "Never, ever say such a naïve thing as that! Everyone knows that Sora knows nothing."

Ven sent another glance towards the default Sora. The little one had found a piece of string in his pocket and now they were playing Cat's Cradle. He wondered why the default wouldn't do or say anything. Anti-form had seemingly disappeared. All of a sudden he reappeared behind the merman's mini-throne with a hiss. The merman squeaked.

"Oh my heart! Don't do that!" he gasped. Anti-form climbed up the back of the mini-throne and looked over the crown ornament on top.

"_Kill, kill, kill… die, die, die… when the hearts are torn…_"

The whispered, raspy voice of a dark creature that had never, ever uttered a syllable until now somehow echoed over every contour.

"Sora never realised that he _killed_ them," Final form said. "Even without their humanity, they were still human."

"Or otherwise," Mickey interrupted from the audience.

"Yes, or otherwise," Final agreed.

"But," Ven argued, "You can't do anything with a Heartless or a Nobody. Once they've been converted there is no known way to restore them."

"Then what happened to Kairi and Sora?" asked the vampire. "Where did Naminé and Roxas come from? And who is Roxas?"

"Roxas is obviously a Nobody," Wisdom form replied. "He's a Nobody belonging to both Sora and Ven due to Ven's attachment to Sora's heart. But, unlike other Nobodies, he only existed stably because he had half of Ven's heart and by that point Ven's existence was on the verge of ceasing. Likewise, Sora used a similar method to save Kairi and his heart became a part of hers for a brief moment in time. When they split and Kairi returned Sora's heart to him, another Nobody was created in the darkness as a result of Kairi losing a part of her heart – which wasn't really hers to begin with. That's why Naminé had such powerful control over Sora's memories."

"This has taken far longer than necessary," Master form sighed, crossing his legs and putting his hands on his knee, "but we've finally answered the initial question. Ven, for the sake of rubbing salt into wounds: why is Sora able to wield the Keyblade?"

Ven bit his lip and sent a sour stare at Master form. "Because I gave him the power. If Riku was to follow Terra's footsteps then I had to stop him and correct Xehanort's mistake – the mistake of all Key bearers: wielding the Keyblade with darkness. As Sora knew all along, the greatest power in the universe, Kingdom Hearts, is made of light even though the power in greatest quantity is darkness. Consequently, the illusion of darkness being the greater power is created. Thousands of years ago, it was prophesised by the greatest ancestors of all the worlds that the Keyblade Master would bring hope and light but in the years that followed people only saw the would-be masters bring ruin and destruction. I felt it was time to correct the mistake. Sora would finally become the true Keyblade Master and bring the hope and light prophesised. I was right, wasn't I? I intruded upon Sora's heart, I attached myself and fed my power into him so that he would be able to wield the Keyblade before his time and end the Keyblade's vicious cycle of devastation. That was the only way even though it meant destroying part of him and turning it into me. Most of Sora's true self has been lost for the sake of the universe and for the sake of Sora's best friend. As you said, Sora knew nothing."

"He didn't realise that you were the reason for the changes in him," Master form said. "Despite your noble intentions, you still intruded upon another's heart and you still destroyed a part of him."

"Hang on," Final interjected. "This isn't fair. In the end Sora did turn that part of Ven into part of himself and Ven was about to disappear completely."

"Sora was not controlled by Ven in any way," techno Sora supplied. "Despite destroying parts of him that were truly Sora, instead of being able to control his actions Ven was smothered by Sora and forced to transmute into him, thus making Sora wholly Sora again."

"But alas," Valour said, "Sora then had to go and try to kill himself."

"That is not true!" Master form shouted. "Ven became a part of Sora but Ven's actions and intentions and abilities were still those of Ven and not Sora, even though they became Sora's they were always Ven's. If Sora had continued to fuse with Ven, Sora would have become Ven, completely losing his own heart and spawning his own Heartless, leaving Ven's heart with the body."

"Then it was lucky that Sora attempted suicide," the lion added. "Now that we're like this, we have power over this heart."

"And what shall we decide?" the merman asked. "Will we destroy him because of the pains he's caused or should we spare him for correcting the age-old mistake."

"We're going to destroy him!" Master form insisted.

"You don't have the final say!" Final form protested.

"I'm a part of Sora and I can!"

"As if you could!" the vampire quipped. "There's only one person here who gets any say when it comes to the final decision."

All eyes turned towards the default Sora. The little Sora in his lap blinked, confused by the sudden stares coming in this direction. He made a small noise in his throat and turned around to hug the default around his neck. The default tightly returned it as Anti-form snuck around the mini-throne, scaring Donald and Goofy, to gaze up at his master. He was real. His imperfect heart squeezed its darkness into Sora to prevent the refusion of the two hearts residing in the one boy. Anti-form could feel no fear. Although he may disappear when Sora didn't need him anymore, he felt no fear. He felt nothing and knew more.

The default Sora looked at Ven and finally spoke. "My life from now on is under the direct influence of my memories. Ven, I thank you for the memories but your heart is of no more use to me. I have the power of the Keyblade without your addition. If I destroy you now, there will be no after-effects.

"But still… thank-you.

"This is the end of your story and is finally the end of the subchapters of my chapters. I can turn a new page and begin the next chapter. This is all you will be able to do to thank me in return: free me."

The audience began to clap. It was slow and quiet at first, but then it became loud and quick. Ven was lost in the noise and the pain of being ripped apart from the inside. White hot scorches bulged before his eyes and finally engulfed him in a brilliant bloom.

--

Sora yawned and stretched on the sand. He looked up into the blue, cloudless sky. In his heart he felt as though some weight had disappeared and he was so light that he could just float away on the buoyancy of his heart alone. Suddenly Kairi's face appeared above him. He smiled at her.

"Watcha doin'?" she asked.

"I was taking a nap," Sora replied, stretching again to prove his point.

She giggled and sat beside him. "Same old Sora… you never change."

"Oh," Sora replied. Kairi furrowed her brow seeing his expression turn slightly disappointed. Then he suddenly laughed and sat up. "Oh! Well, I guess I understand then. But you know, Kairi, it's not possible for me to stay this way forever. I may be unchanged now but in the future I'm definitely gonna change. Yeah… you'll see."

He stood up and ran past her, down to the sea out at low tide. Kairi watched on confused. "But… I like you the way you are. Don't ever change…"

Sora took off his shoes and socks and jumped into the shallow waves. The water didn't reach the jetty and he and Kairi would be stuck here until the tide came in. He thought that perhaps he was already changing. He felt a liberty in his heart that he didn't understand; so free that he could sail across the endless ocean to meet an endless possibility of dreams and adventure.

* * *

Yep, there's my theory. If you are confused or you don't get it just say so and I'll add another chapter for the purpose of explaining how the theory works in a Q & A format.

I just thought my theory was worth mentioning to the world, and just so you know, if I write any more fanfics for Kingdom Hearts I'm likely to base it on this theory so you'll see me refer to this story in future stories. And I don't think it's that long, or that it's such a pain in the ass to read. I proofread and edited it as well as I could so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, shame on me.


	2. Sister

I know the next chapter was supposed to be a Q&A explaining the first one but I couldn't bring myself to do something like that. I had planned to leave the first chapter as a one-shot but this suddenly popped into my mind and now it's a two-shot. It doesn't explain anything from the previous chapter, it's just cute but the beginning sort of comes out of the previous chapter, so I added it on rather than uploading it as a different one-shot.

This is mainly just cute stuff. Kingdom Hearts was so romantic and friendship-based but strangely enough, there wasn't anything about the families of Riku, Kairi or Sora. I found that kind of odd, considering all the familial relationships Sora has to encounter on his Disney tour. Heck, he even when he meets a pregnant mother (Nala) he doesn't think of his own mom. It's weird because given the thoughtful nature of Sora it would be stupid to think he didn't care about his family, especially in the first game when he must have realised that everyone on his island was gone to the darkness. I kinda blame Tstsuya Nomura and the writers for this, because Disney is not all about princesses and romance, it's very focused on families and family connections. After all, Snow White's enemy was her own step-mother, not just some jealous old witch, and the ugly step-_sisters_ and the step-_mother_ were Cinderella's antagonists. Not to mention that the role of Elizabeth's father was completely disregarded in Port Royal (in fact, I think a lot of important roles were disregarded in Port Royal). Also disregarded and glossed over were the familial traditions that drove the stories of Mulan, Aladdin and Hercules. Nobody had to go into great detail but they at least had to explain or show the audience that they acknowledge the fact that all of these family relationships were important behind the scenes.

As such, I had to do something about this in my own, small way and while this doesn't fix the disregard for Disney's careful consideration of family in their work, it does fix what was annoying me about Sora never thinking about his family.

**Disclaimer_: _**I don't own Kingdom Hearts but I envy the guy who does and just hope he'll let me on the team for Kingdom Hearts III once I pass my Stage 2 Japanese.

* * *

_Sister..._

_I'm not asking you to forgive me right now,_

_I just want you to know that I have feelings for you that I don't have for anyone else in the world... _

--

Sora touched a dial on the radio, tuning it to a random station. A calm viola duet played out of the radio but Sora didn't mind. He found it strange. Nowadays there were a lot of things he didn't mind. Although he felt the freedoms of being home once again and the somewhat promise of staying here forever, he knew there was something missing – like a part of him had been lost. Though he remembered the things he liked and disliked and the way he used to feel about certain things, he couldn't place feelings against them anymore. It was like being two years old again and having to eat his spinach or carrots for the first time in their boiled or steamed state. Cheese didn't taste as awesome as it used to, and milk was no longer so bland. He couldn't fathom what was going on.

The sea breeze whispered over the veranda and set the wind chimes going. The veranda was quite bare except for a wooden bench with a wrought iron frame. Sora sat down on it and immediately jumped back up when something in his back pocket jabbed at him. He pulled it out. It was a necklace Kairi had made for him. The centre piece was a curled pink shell. She had carefully drilled the shell with a needle and threaded it onto a black piece of string, complemented by fragments of pastel coloured rocks.

Sora sat down again with the necklace in his lap and looked up to see the beach. Two tall palm trees – taller than any other on this side of the island – stood as silhouettes in the setting sun, waving their defiant fronds in the wind. Five years ago a huge cyclone tore across the island, ripping up every single tree on the beach except for the two palm trees swaying before Sora now.

The sun slipped deeper and deeper into the horizon, casting its golden rays onto the glittering sea. All of a sudden, the orchestral symphony, that had begun to play not too long ago, disappeared and was replaced with static that squealed and whined until the radio was properly turned to a different station playing a neurotic techno song. Sora turned around as a little girl about eight years of age bounced out of the house now that the music was tuned to her own liking. She had long, wavy, auburn hair and wore a white spaghetti strap top and blue shorts. It had been hot all day. Even Sora had removed his jacket and his bulky pants, leaving the shorts underneath. His shoes were left somewhere at the other end of the balcony and his gloves were inside on the kitchen table. The cool evening air outside relieved the simmering atmosphere of the house. The little girl with her bright blue eyes and newly cut fringe had also chosen to find solace from the stuffy living room and bedrooms on the veranda. Her feet pattered across the wooden floor as she came. She sat down on the bench next to Sora and eyed the necklace.

"That's pretty," she said.

Sora chuckled. "I won't give it to you."

The girl pouted and swung her short legs under the bench. "Why not? Did Kairi give it to you?"

Sora nodded as he turned his gaze back to the horizon.

The little girl narrowed her eyes. "Do you like her?"

"Yes."

"More than me?"

"Er… of course not… um…"

"You don't even remember my name anymore." She sniffed back a sob. "I'm Sunni."

"Right… Sunni."

Sunni burst into torrents of tears. She leapt off the bench and tore down the veranda steps. Sora stood up. He faltered again, words caught in his throat as Sunni ran down to the beach and began a mad sprint towards the mangroves. He looked around the veranda, unsure of what he could do. He heard the sound of the bells on the front door jingling.

"Sora, Sunni! Where are you?" That was his mother.

Sora grabbed his shoes and took off hot on Sunni's trail.

--

Somehow – Sora didn't know where or when – he'd lost Sunni's trail and began to just wander aimlessly, only half-heartedly looking. He was certain he'd looked everywhere, even on the beach he was now walking along. He sighed as up ahead the wooden jetty was coming into view.

"Sunni," he reminded himself as a precaution before he found her. "Sunni, Sunni, Sunni… why do I feel so compelled to find her anyhow? She's seven, she can come home when she's ready, right?"

That was familiar thought, but for some reason, thinking it now seemed to make less sense than it used to. Worry was nagging him to death in his mind. Suddenly he felt a strong hand pat him on the shoulder and looked up to find his friend Wakka. Despite all the growing he'd done, Wakka was _still_ a good head and a half taller than him.

"Hey, man, what's eatin' you, ya?"

Sora tried to smile but failed and sighed. "Sunni ran away and I'm trying to find her… but I've looked everywhere. I don't think she wants to be found."

Wakka laughed. "Don't give up on your little sis like that. They don't run away unless they wanna be found. Chappu does it all the time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Wakka said, gesturing for Sora to walk with him.

"So, where would I find her?"

"She'd go hide somewhere you'd definitely find her, ya. But it would be somewhere that nobody else would think to look for her."

Sora's eyes widened as though he'd experienced the greatest epiphany he'd ever had. He slapped himself in forehead. "Of course! Thanks Wakka, but I can't stay, I've gotta find my little sister."

"Don't mention it, ya."

Sora climbed up onto the jetty and sprinted all the way to the end where little rowboats were moored haphazardly. He groaned when he realised his boat was missing. So he jumped into Riku's boat instead. Surely Riku wouldn't mind if his boat was gone for half an hour or so for a good cause.

The trip to the island was helped along by strong currents and calm water. The tall tree growing up through the middle of the island caught the last of the sun before the golden disk disappeared under the horizon completely. There was still enough light in the sky to guide Sora to the small jetty on the island and moor the boat but the beach was dark and shadowy and most details were indiscernible. He found a small torch in his pocket and turned it on, but the dim light it emitted wasn't very useful and told him he needed to change the batteries. He ran to the secret cave at the base of the tall tree and wriggled into the small opening. It was smaller than he remembered it, or maybe he was just bigger. Once he was in the tunnel, sufficiently covered in sand, he had to bend over to fit. Darkness prevailed as well as the sound of sniffing and sobbing. Sora scampered to the end of the tunnel and reached the main cave where he could finally straighten up. The cave walls were covered in drawings and games scratched onto the stone with a rock. Whatever little light was left outside streamed in through a hole in the ceiling and the door stood at the back of the cave, firmly locked.

Sora tentatively approached a large boulder with a funny face drawn on it and peeked over the top. A head of wavy auburn locks could be seen from this angle and the sobs were definitely coming from underneath them.

"Hey, Sunni," Sora said, startling the little girl. She spun around and crawled backwards into the cave wall. She frowned and narrowed her eyes when she saw him.

"What are you doing here? Do think I'm going to forgive you if you just apologise?" she snapped.

"No, Sunni," Sora replied, putting on a smile. "You don't have to accept my apologies. I've been away and a lot of stuff has happened to me. My memories aren't as they should be."

"That's just an excuse!"

"I know, but there's not much else to tell you right now." Sora walked around the boulder to sit next to Sunni. She didn't move, but she did pull her legs up close and hide her face behind her knees. Sora pulled the necklace out of his back pocket and slipped it around his sister's neck. She lifted her head as he tied the string and looked at him. "Just know that even though my feelings and memories are in a bit of a mess, I know that you're my little sister and I know that I have feelings for you that I don't have for anyone else, not even Kairi."

Sunni stood up on her knees facing her big brother. They stared at each other in silence for a while, until Sunni leaned forward and gently hugged Sora. "It's okay if you forget my name. I still love you."

Sora put an arm around her and looked up. The stars were already out. "Hey, Sunni, it's really late. It'll be too dark to paddle back home."

Sunni pulled back and stared at him, eyes wide with worry. "Then what are we gonna do?"

"Why don't we just camp here tonight? Just you and me."

Sunni smiled and stood up. She dragged Sora to his feet and they left the cave to set up a respectable campfire on the sand. Sora showed her how to shake coconuts out of the palm trees and how to climb trees for seagull eggs. Sunni watched in amusement from the warmth of the campfire as Sora tried to catch fish in the shallows under the moonlight. He came back with only two after about an hour of trying. Sora gutted and scaled them and they roasted over the fire anyway.

He told Sunni stories about his travels to the other worlds while they sat in front of the fire eating dinner. He described Donald and Goofy as best he could and explained all the concepts of the Heartless, Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts. He told her about the wonders of Wonderland, the majesty of Olympus Colosseum and the many castles he visited, the tranquillity of Atlantica, the wilds of the Pride Lands and beauty of Radiant Garden. He told her about the radical world inside Ansem's computer, the mysteries of Twilight and Traverse Town, the comical antics of Jack Skellington in Halloween and Christmas Town and the promises of Neverland. He talked about the Organisation and Ansem the Heartless, as well as Ansem the Wise, King Mickey, Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Mulan, Aladdin, Jack Sparrow, Simba, Hercules, Ursula, Captain Hook and all the other colourful characters he'd met. He then told her about Riku's ties to the darkness, to which Sunni responded:

"Yeah, well I didn't like Riku anyway. He was stuck up himself."

Sora couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard.

"So, where are we gonna sleep?" Sunni asked.

"Up there." Sora pointed to the little wooden cabin built in the tree.

He led the way up the ladder to the doorway. The little room with all those tree branches growing into it was full of things that Sora, Riku and Kairi had used to have sleepovers on the island. Kairi had left her sleeping bag on the floor and the cloth that had once been the raft's sail was folded at the base of the branches. There were even several cushions and pillows in a box by the wall.

"You sleep in the sleeping bag," Sora told Sunni.

"No! Sleep with me!"

Sora had to remember that she was only seven before he let his mind wander towards the innuendo side of the statement. Sunni unzipped the sleeping bag completely and lay in on the floor, soft and cuddly. She got herself a cushion and plopped down onto the folded out sleeping bag. She patted the empty space next to her where she expected him to sleep. Sora gave her a smile and got up to get the cloth.

"It's too hot to sleep with a blanket!" Sunni moaned but Sora brought it back anyway.

"Believe me, it'll get really cold around three o'clock in the morning, then you'll want it." He spread it out and folded it up at the base of the makeshift bed. "How about I just leave it there for now?"

Sunni nodded and put the cushion behind her head before leaning back and letting herself fall into a lying position. Sora lay down next to her with a pillow that he was sure belonged to Riku (Riku's stuff was very borrow-able). Sunni rolled over and buried her face into her cushion.

"Hey, Sunni?"

"What?" Sunni said into her cushion.

"All that stuff I told you tonight… don't tell mom, okay?"

"Why not?" Sunni pulled her face out of the cushion and stared at Sora.

"I don't want her to worry about me, or start putting more restrictions than she has already."

"But mom's scared for you," Sunni explained. Sora turned to her, seeing the sadness in her eyes. "She got scared and cried when you came home. She was scared when you forgot my name and her name. She was really, really afraid because you didn't remember a lot of stuff and you didn't even know you didn't know."

"But she might not understand it the way you did."

"Yes she will. She's too scared right now. Tell her what happened. That'll make her happy and she'll know that you're strong enough that she doesn't have to protect you."

"Okay, Sunni," Sora said, reaching over to pat her on the head. "First thing tomorrow, when we go home for breakfast, I'll tell her."

"I'm watching you," Sunni warned. "I'll be listening. If you skip something or don't tell her I'll know and I'll have to tell her myself."

Sora chuckled. "Alright, Sunni. Just go to sleep."

Sunni grinned and took off the necklace to lay it beside her cushion. She stroked the smooth, spiral of the shell before closing her eyes and dreaming about Sora taking her to see all of those worlds for herself.

* * *

Yeah, just cute stuff. Well, I think I might as well explain what I was thinking when I wrote this now rather than later, because likeliness it won't get done later.

Okay, well, you know how in the previous chapter I wrote about how Ven was fusing into Sora? That has a big part to play here because Ven's emotions, thoughts and personality were all being reflected into Sora and Sora was adopting them as if they were his own as he grew up. Problem was, Ven's qualities were already those of someone who'd "grown up" quite a bit and forced Sora to be independent and mature a bit prematurely. It also stopped him from growing up completely innocent like other children. Due to Ven becoming a part of him, Ven's values and powers became a part of him as well, forcing him into a life he wasn't meant to lead. Ven's powers - that's pretty self-explanatory. Ven's values are important for this chapter.

As far as I know, Ven doesn't have any family - Ven probably doesn't even know who he is. However, we do know (or at least we can speculate) that Ven develops deep friendship ties with Aqua and Terra. Hence, friendship is more important to Ven than family. Another important factor is Namine. Kairi has no family on the Destiny Islands and doesn't remember her own family from Radiant Garden, all she has are the friendships with Sora, Riku and the others on the island. Therefore, Namine has very little (if any) understanding about family, so when she tries to rewrite Sora's memories so that the chain of memories is in the correct order again she glosses over some details that she can't replicate simply because she doesn't understand, causing Sora to lose some important memories about his family.

Now while Ven's values were very influential in Sora's life, Ven is now completely eradicated (as of the previous chapter), meaning that Sora is now fully, completely, totally, purely Sora. As a result of that, Sora's feelings about the world begin to change. It was naive of him to think that his memories completely influence his life from that point on because his heart is experiencing new things. He has to "retry" so many things because in the past Ven's likes, dislikes, opinions and ideals had been so prevalent that Sora eventually began to forget his own. Combined with Namine's lack of understanding of families, this also means that Sora is rediscovering what it's like to have family, to locked into a position of reliance and dependence where even though you may not depend on others there will at all times be others who depend or rely on you.

So, in this little chapter-ish thingy Sora rediscovers what it means to be a brother and gets on his way to understanding what it means to be a son. I have no idea if I'll ever write anymore about this.

There you go, my explanation in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did thinking about it. And by the way, if you haven't played FFX or looked up the characters on Wikipedia, Chappu is Wakka's little brother.


	3. Mother

Yet more infallible evidence that I simply cannot write a one-shot. There's a reason why I've only ever written two. I'm changing the status of this story now - from now on, it's in-progress. Although I won't regularly update it, I seem to have this vague, unconscious idea of where this is supposed to be going and I hope I don't take too long to explain it. hopefully, I'll fill the gap I've now created with whatever I write next and if that's not the end of it... damn, I'm deleting this story and uploading the first chapter by itself.

By the way, this is continuing the whole "Sora and his family" idea from the previous chapter. I don't know if I'll ever mention Sora's dad. And I didn't actually write this whole thing, I just took the first chapter of a previous story and rewrote some parts to make it fit this story.

**Disclaimer: I don't have the copyright Kingdom Hearts or Disney or any characters or merchandise affiliated with them.**

* * *

**Mother**

_Crash!_

Sora gasped and jerked awake. He swung out of bed so fast he caused himself to fall and raced out of his room searching for the source of the crash. He dashed into the kitchen and stopped. One the cupboards had been pulled open and a glass bowl had fallen out. He cursed and got the dustpan and brush and began to sweep up the mess before someone else woke up and had to be bothered with it. It was the bowl they'd used last night to hold the custard for dessert. He threw the glass pieces into the rubbish bin and examined the cupboard. The bowls were placed a bit haphazardly and the large custard bowl had been sitting on a smaller bowl. Sora sighed. He'd let Sunni put the dishes away while he washed last night and the cupboard had probably been a bit too high for her.

It was so early in the morning – about half past five – the only sign that the sun was beginning to rise was the bright light in the sky on the horizon and the air was cold yet still and damp. There was dew on the grass and dew had wet the sand. In his pyjamas (which were short pants with a loose, matching shirt) Sora walked down to the seashore barefooted. Despite the fact that it was cold the waves looked so inviting. He reached the smooth sand where the waves only just reached out and flattened out the sandy ground. His footprints were barely washed away by the waves as they crept up the beach. Sora stood ankle-deep in sea water and inhaled the cool, salty sea air. Even when it wasn't breezy it was so refreshing and invigorating that Sora's heart felt light weighted and delighted.

There was nobody else down on the beach. It was too early; the stars were still out in the sky. Sora glanced up at the full sky of stars and grinned. All of the worlds were there. It was so awe-inspiring to think that they were all little worlds in the big wide somewhere connected to each other by heart alone.

"Pretty…"

He was startled. Sora thought he was the only one on the beach but he was apparently wrong. He turned to the voice beside him. The person he saw next to him looked like he'd left better days behind him. Dark rings and bags under his eyes meant he hadn't slept or at least hadn't slept properly in days. He was thin with little to no significant muscle tone or fat anywhere on his body. He was shaking and hugging himself in the cold. His teeth chattered and his breath was shuddery. He turned to Sora and both of them widened their eyes when they saw themselves staring back at each other.

Sora blinked and the other person was gone. He slapped himself in the face and pinched his own arm to see if he really was awake. He confirmed it and decided that it was true; the person he'd just seen was a worse-for-wear version of himself. He took a moment to wonder what in the world that was. Was it a premonition? Was he going to turn into that? Sora turned around and his eyes widened almost fearfully. Directly behind him was his own trail of footprints and parallel to it was a trail of identical footprints.

Sora turned back to the sea. The wind waves rolled on, the stars were disappearing one-by-one and the sun was starting to peak over the clear horizon. He put a hand over his chest where his crown pendant usually hung. He'd been through so many weird situations in his adventures so something as bizarre as seeing himself suddenly appear next to him wasn't something that surprised him… what he tried to do instead was understand why he'd seen himself like that. How did that image come to be? Sora looked out onto the horizon as if it held the answers to his question but as it brightened with the glory of the rising sun it clearly had none.

"Sora," said a mature female voice behind him that rang sweetly like a small bell. Sora turned around instinctively upon hearing his name. A woman with shiny chestnut coloured hair and deep, blue eyes was standing on the sand in white, full-length pyjamas. "What are you doing out here so early in the morning?" she asked.

Sora grinned at her. "I couldn't get back to sleep."

She chuckled. "Maybe it's just as well. You have no idea how hard it is for me to wake you up in time for school. Come on." She held out her hand for him and he took it. They walked back up the beach to Sora's house hand-in-hand and ignored the identical trails of footprints. "Are you excited about the summer?" she asked as they walked. "It's coming close now."

"Not really," Sora admitted. "There's not really much to do on this island."

"Would you like to have a holiday? We can go to another island."

"But then I'd miss my friends."

They wiped the sand off their feet on the doormat before going inside. Sora sat down at the kitchen table and the woman started to look for a frying pan. "You know Sora, it's okay to miss your friends every once in a while. Distance makes the heart grow fonder is what I like to say."

"I've already missed my friends too much," Sora whispered to himself.

The woman watched him fold his arms over the table and stare at them. "Fine then, we can stay if you want that."

"Sure, mom."

--

Sora walked home from school that day with Tidus since Kairi had decided to go shopping with Selphie in favour of walking home with Sora. It was very quiet on the way home. Sora spent most of the time staring at Tidus. He didn't really know what to say because he didn't spend a lot of time hanging out with Tidus and he was finding it hard to communicate with someone he didn't know as intimately as he knew Kairi and Riku.

Eventually Tidus broke the long pause they'd shared for most of the journey. The road was ended at the beach and branched off in two directions where they would part. "Sora, I've wanted to ask a question for a long time but I thought it might be a touchy subject." Sora nodded for him to continue. "Where did you go for so long?"

Sora blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, about a year and a half ago you went away somewhere and you never came back. Then everyone just spontaneously forgot about you, there wasn't even a reason why. People just suddenly forgot. Every time I tried to ask someone what happened – your mom, Kairi and your teachers at school – everybody just said: 'Who's Sora?' It was kinda weird."

Sora stared at him wide-eyed. "So you've remembered who I was all this time?"

"Yeah, why would I forget? I just wanted to know where you'd gone and why everyone just forgot."

"Geez, Tidus… it's a really long story. I don't know if there are even enough hours in the day to tell you the whole thing."

"I thought you might say something like that," Tidus sighed.

Sora was frowned at the sight of Tidus' disappointment. His steps seemed to be heavier on the ground – almost like stomping but not quite. Was Tidus angry that Sora hadn't given him and answer? They reached the intersection and stopped to feel the cool and gentle sea breeze. Tidus turned to Sora and smiled.

"I think I leave you here," he said.

"Yeah… I guess… do you remember the big storm that year?" Sora suddenly blurted out. He didn't know why he did that. Was he dying to tell the story now that the subject had been brought up by someone other than Kairi and Riku?

Tidus creased his brow as he tried to remember. "Do you mean that cyclone three years ago that tore up the houses on the other side of the island?"

"No, I'm talking about the dark storm when the Heartless arrived. It happened the day I left."

Tidus rolled his eyes to look up at the sky like all of his memories were up there somewhere. "I remember that one… that was strange too. Selphie and Wakka don't remember. I ended up in this really weird town full of misfits and random types of people and every night the people always looked upset and lonely. The only thing I could ever think about was: 'what happened to these islands and everybody I know? Where did everybody go?' I was so confused."

"Why didn't I ever find you?" Sora asked. He was becoming extremely confused as to how Tidus of all people had managed to elude the fate of everyone else on the island save Riku, Kairi and himself.

"Hey, Sora," said the familiar voice of Riku from behind the two of them. Tidus and Sora both turned to their much taller friend. Sora grinned at his best buddy in the whole world but his smile faltered when he noticed the serious look on Riku's face that was scarily intimidating. "What're you two talking about?"

"We were just having a light conversation," Tidus replied hastily. His voice cracked a little bit at the end. He turned around and waved back at Sora. "Nice to get to talk after all this time. See ya, Sora." With that he started to quickly walk down the path to his house.

Sora stared after Tidus with his mouth agape. He turned to Riku and gave him an incredulous glare. Did Riku just scare Tidus off? Riku met Sora's glare and backed off slightly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"What was that all about?" Sora demanded.

"I should be asking you that question, Sora," Riku snapped back. He glared at his old friend menacingly but Sora wasn't fazed. It was kind of hard to be intimidated by Big Bad Riku in uniform when he was wearing blue tartan shorts and a white button-up shirt with a tie to match his shorts. A glaring contest broke out that lasted minutes. They created a tension so thick that the air felt heavy and the friction between their eyes could almost be seen. Sora eventually sighed and gave up.

"I don't understand it anymore. I mean, why should I keep the secret from Tidus? It's not like he doesn't think something went down."

Riku raised an eyebrow at that. "Sora, you know that telling him would encourage him to visit other worlds like we did and he might go off out there with Selphie and Wakka and get himself hurt… like we did."

"I don't think so. It's not like he hasn't been to another world before," Sora retorted.

"Now I don't even know what you're talking about."

"On the day the Heartless attacked Tidus didn't disappear like Selphie and Wakka. He found his way to Traverse Town."

Riku raised his other eyebrow. "Traverse Town? How'd he manage that?"

"I don't know… maybe the Heartless weren't able to take him like it was for the other people in Traverse Town. Their hearts were too strong for the darkness to consume."

Riku nodded. "I understand that."

--

Sora dragged himself to the front door of his house and turned to watch Riku continue down the road. He sighed and turned to walk into his own house. He heard a gasp and suddenly turned around. His eyes widened and this time he screamed when he saw that thin, draggled version of himself in an unkempt school uniform standing right behind him. The other Sora also screamed.

"Sora, what happened?" his mother exclaimed. Sora turned to see her walking briskly and worriedly down the hallway to the front door. "Did something happen to you and Kairi just then?"

"Me and Kairi?" Sora said. "I didn't walk home with Kairi today."

"Riku, then?"

Sora shook his head. "Riku left a minute ago, he's gone now. Why did you think that either of them was here?"

"Well, it is very common for you to walk with Riku or Kairi…" his mother said, "and I could swear I heard two people screaming."

Sora turned to where the sadder version of himself had been. There was nothing there now except thin air. "I don't know, maybe you were imagining things. There wasn't any screaming."

His mother suddenly glared at him angrily and placed her arms akimbo. "Sora, what did I tell you about doing things like that to me? We had a talk, remember?"

"We had a talk?" Sora wondered; searching his memory for any kind of talk or lecture he had gotten from his mother recently.

"You know, it doesn't help that I didn't know where you were for almost two years and I didn't even know _who you_ _were_ for a majority of that time. Do you know how worried I've been about you? The- the whole thing was completely out of my hands. I was never able to find you in that twisted town! Everybody else seemed to see you but I was never even able to catch a glimpse, I'll bet you don't have any idea how frustrating it is to learn that your son is running around in a huge town all by himself, alone in the dark and disappearing off the face of the world every now and again. And then before I even knew it I thought I never had a son. What made it worse was that everybody else treated it as if you'd just been away for a long time on a holiday or something, even Kairi. Then you and Riku had a little adventure as if your parents _weren't ripping their hair out worrying about __**where the hell you were**_! Don't tell me there was nobody out here with you screaming and pretend that everything is just peachy!"

Sora's eyes darted from left to right trying to avoid looking at his mother but his eyes seemed to go back to her every time. His mother sighed and put both hands on his shoulders. "Sora, is there something you need to talk about? Something important?"

Sora shook his head. "No, everything's good now. I don't need to talk about anything."

"Don't lie to me, something weird is going on," said Sora's mother sternly. "Don't tell me it's something you can't share with me. I'm disturbed and annoyed and worried enough as it is."

"Sorry, mom," Sora quietly said. He pushed past her to get into the house.

--

When Sora got up to his room he found Sunni sitting up on his desk chair making paper aeroplanes out of his origami kits (which he never used anyway) and throwing them at the wooden boat that hung from the ceiling. It seemed she was trying to hit the female doll that hung over the rail of the model ship.

"Sunni, what are you doing in here?" Sora asked, closing the door behind him and dropping his bag on the floor.

"You lied to mom," Sunni said. She stopped folding her most recent paper plane and swivelled in Sora's chair to glare at him. "I told you that I would be watching you and you didn't tell her everything."

"I told her everything she needed to know."

"You didn't tell her about Riku or Roxas," Sunni said, turning back to her plane. "And, as I promised, I had to tell her myself."

"Sunni! I would have told her in my own time!" Sora growled.

"That's not good enough," Sunni replied. "Mom wants to hear it from you now. I didn't tell her everything, so she wants to talk about it with you. She's still scared, you know. Especially now that she knows you kept something from her."

"Didn't you ever think that that was the reason _why_ I kept it from her? She wouldn't be freaking scared if she didn't know that!" Sora seethed, marching towards Sunni and lifting her out of his chair. "Now get out of my room."

--

Sora had gone straight to his room and – as far as his mother knew for a while – didn't come out. She thought he was doing homework and then playing pick-up-sticks by himself but when she went up to call him down for dinner he wasn't there. He'd left his bedroom door open and his homework strewn out on the floor only half finished. He hadn't touched his pick-up-sticks or any of his other games. She worriedly began to search the house but didn't have to look far. She found him on the balcony swinging in her hammock.

Sora's mother walked across the moon-washed boards to where her son liked to set up the hammock between two bent palm trees just over the railing. She climbed into the hammock and sat behind him. "Hey, move over, you're taking up all the room."

Sora rolled his eyes but shuffled forward. His mother caught his eyes and frowned at the negative body language. "Mom, I was here first."

"Don't forget whose hammock it is, not to mention whose _favourite_ hammock it is. And don't give me looks like that! I'll ground you otherwise." Sora turned away from her. "And don't look away from me like I don't have anything to do with you, but while you are here, I want you to tell me what you're thinking about." She softened her voice and put her hands over Sora's.

Sora sighed. "Mom, don't think badly of Riku, okay?"

"Why would I think badly of him in the first place?"

"Look, I know what Sunni said about him – he turned to the darkness when the island was swallowed by the Heartless and treated me like an enemy in my travels around the worlds. But you know he helped me out in the end. He was jealous and naïve at first but when he got the gist of using the darkness and understood its power better, he changed and figured out what he was supposed to do with it. I don't think I would have ever made it all the way back here if he hadn't been giving me clues along the way. We're still best friends and he's looking out for me more than ever now, so don't worry about him. And I know there's other stuff – I know everything Sunni told you – but I… I just don't wanna say it. It might be too much."

"Don't try to break it to me gently, I can handle everything." Sora gave his mother and questioning look. "Hey, I wouldn't get to be a mother if I couldn't handle what my son threw at me."

Sora leaned back into his mother and closed his eyes. "It's kind of bizarre, but Roxas is actually me without a heart… or at least not a whole heart or something."

"That's what you called a Nobody, right?"

"Yeah. Must have happened during that period I can't remember. I remember giving up my heart, but then it came back so I don't think I was supposed to have a Nobody in the first place. I'm starting to think now that there's something I haven't known all this time. I fell asleep for a year after defeating Ansem – for no reason at all – and by the time I woke up Roxas was gone. I only got to meet him once and we joined up. That's when I _think_ I finally became completely whole but I feel like while I've been home I've changed again. Maybe Roxas didn't really make me whole but more than whole… if that makes any sense at all. So I guess I must have lost something. I know I've lost a lot of memories. I might be able to explain a little bit better if I could remember what happened before I fell asleep. This is why I tried not to explain it to you the first time. Anything that involves Roxas tends to involve those memories that I don't have and I can't explain it. So please don't worry about me, okay?"

Sora waited for a response from his mother. She was quiet and still. Finally she said: "Sora, you can't ask me to do that. I'll never stop worrying about you. What if I'd lost you? Everything you've told me – you've gone to some very morbid places, Sora. You even entertained the possibility of something suicidal and I don't want that to continue. You and Sunni are everything to me. But I'm glad that you finally told me what happened to you. I know you and I have never been close but if you're getting closer to me now, that's all I need. If you ever died or lost your heart forever, all I need to know is that you love your mother just as much or even more than your friends. That's all I need to know."

"Can I know something too?"

"What do you need?"

"Are you glad to have me? Are you disappointed in me or proud of me? What do you feel about me?"

"Sora, I've already told you. I love you. Of course I'm glad to still have you and after everything you've done and told me about, I can't be disappointed in you. You're the bravest, strongest and kindest person I know."

Sora smiled, leaned back into his mother's embrace and fiddled with his crown pendant. His mother took gentle hold of the pendant and held it up in front of both of their eyes.

"You gave this to me, didn't you?" Sora asked, turning to look at his mother.

"I did," she replied. "I was so happy. You and Riku were so alike – being all mature and independent all the time. You wouldn't respond to me when I gave you gifts but when you got that from me I remember dearly the way your eyes lit up and you looked at me with absolute adoration. Every time I feel that there's something wrong in our relationship, I always think back to that moment and I feel as though you really did always love me fully, deeply and truly. But I know a little bit better now, don't I?"

Sora swallowed a lump of guilt and tried to tilt the pendant until it completely caught the moon's rays. Suddenly his mother gasped and grabbed the crown.

"Hey… what's this?"

Sora's eyes widened and he tried to hide his pendant.

"No, Sora, don't hide it from me! Is that a scuff? It's a scratch! Sora, how on earth did you manage to put such a scratch on this pendant?"

"I preferred to not part with it."

His mother sighed. "Okay, I'll forgive you just because I know you didn't have very normal circumstances." She kissed Sora on the cheek. "Now come on, you have to help me reheat dinner – it's probably gone cold now."

* * *

Okay, this probably needs a bit of explaining in the way of that little bit at the end. I sort of don't get why fans see Sora as less mature than Riku. In my opinion, Sora was actually more mature and though he sometimes acted impulsively and clumsily he was never stupid or foolish (as a general observation. I get the feeling someone might try to use the Olympus Colosseum Underworld scene against me. Hint: electric doll). And, as I've already stated, Ven's interference in his heart caused him to act like a teenager (as I believe Ven is a teenager) rather than a child during Sora's childhood, thus creating abnormal disinterest in gifts for children.

Well, that's how I see it. I'm surprised that no one yet has tried to argue with me.


	4. Me

Good news! I think I've finished this story with this installment as I hoped to in the previous chapter. I am now going to leave these theories alone and get on to more important stuff.

With this chapter I'm trying to now get away from the whole family issue and get back to Sora and his friends - the original focus of Kingdom Hearts. There will be nothing cute and fluffy and by the end of it you should all know how I feel about Kairi. I will explain this chapter at the end if you don't get it though I fear I've been quite open-ended.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts and I don't think I ever will.**

**

* * *

Me**

_We must not interfere with the affairs of other worlds._

_A princess must not abandon her people. _

"_Sora… if you find me, please kidnap me. I am your damsel… or at least… I want to be."_

--

It was almost unbelievable. Kairi disappeared one day. Sora was bewildered beyond comprehension. He thought for a week that she was simply trying to do the same kind of disappearing act that Sunni had tried on him before. Riku was extremely moody for almost a month – he refused to talk to anyone for the first few days, even Sora. Tidus, Selphie and Wakka were upset but got over it quite quickly. Sora found Sunni's reaction the most distressing. The little girl simply shrugged her shoulders, trying to sew a seashell necklace of a similar design to Kairi's, and said that she didn't really care either way and the redhead was simply another face among 'Sora's friends'. However, Sora decided to let it slide, since Sunni obviously felt animosity towards his female friend due to the years of ignoring his little sister in favour of his friends, particularly Kairi. Most of the islanders seemed to just think that Kairi had run away, but couldn't fathom why she would do that.

In the pit of his stomach Sora had the feeling that there was something more complicated about this situation and somehow it felt right. He cried, he screamed, he even bit himself sometimes to vent the anguish of losing such an important friend so suddenly. But the fact that Kairi wasn't here made the island feel as if things had truly gone back to normal. Sora felt more relaxed in his day-to-day life and Riku had definitely noticed that.

It was a cool evening on the small island when Riku finally brought up the topic of the missing girl. Riku lay across the bent trunk of the Paupu palm while Sora sat at the base and worked his toes through the sand.

"Sora, do you miss Kairi?"

Sora looked down at his hands where his self-inflicted bruises were swelling and darkening. "Of course."

"Oh really… it's just that you seemed at lot less… stressed…"

"Than you?"

Riku narrowed his eyes and snorted. He sat up and glared down at Sora. "Why are you taking this lightly? Don't you care about Kairi now that she's gone?"

"I do care," Sora replied calmly, continuing his work with the sand. "But I don't think she's in trouble. I miss her and I want to see her right now – I sort of expect her to just run up to us right now and ask us if we were really looking that hard for her – but I have the feeling that wherever she's gone, it's a place where she belongs."

"Kairi belongs here!" Riku shouted, jumping off the trunk and stomping up to Sora. Sora looked up at his friend for the first time that evening. "Even if she was originally from another world, this is where she had friends! This is where her dreams are!"

Sora looked at the orange horizon and had to shut his eyes against the bright sun. "Just because she couldn't remember them, doesn't mean she didn't have dreams and friends on her own world too."

Riku refused to hear of it. He growled and kicked sand over Sora's feet. He stalked off. Sora watched the water and soon enough Riku's boat could be seen gliding over the smooth surf on its way back to the main island. Sora sighed and continued the activity of working the sand between his toes.

Sand crunched beneath an approaching pair of shoes. Sora looked up to see his own pair of shoes being held to his face. Looking higher, Sora saw the person holding them out looked exactly like him, right down to the clothes, only he was thinner and looked tired.

"Hey… I need to talk to you," the thinner boy said, smiling a little. He seemed nervous. Sora accepted his shoes and stood up, carrying them by the laces. "We'll take a walk."

"Okay. The beach always looks great around this time of day, huh?"

"No, not here… follow me."

--

Sora and his less inspiring clone returned to the main island. To Sora's confusion, they sat on a sand dune saying nothing until the sun went down and the streetlights went up. Then the second Sora stood up and extended a hand to Sora.

"Let's get going then. The streets always look their best under the lamplight… in my opinion."

The pair walked in relative silence for a while. The streets were quiet and filled with the sounds of insects and night birds. Every now and again they saw a long-legged bird trotting down the same path on its hunt for insect prey. The windows of houses were lit up, making the world outside seem colder and lonelier.

"You know that Kairi originates from a different world," the second Sora stated.

"Of course, she came from Radiant Garden. Until now I always thought that despite that she belonged with us."

"A selfish conception, but only natural."

Sora turned to his companion. In the streetlight his outline appeared more jagged and strong. He was taken aback by the bluntness. "Well… er…"

"We actually have the same name, but you can call me Sky instead."

"Where'd you come from?"

"Who knows?"

Sora creased his brow at that. "Then why'd you come here?"

Sky shrugged. "In my opinion, I was always here. I suppose you've never been close to this place."

Sora stepped ahead of Sky and stopped in front of him. They stood on the corner of an intersection with one streetlamp in the middle of the four-way road. The light was dim due the moths and mosquitoes that swamped the lamp and the vacant block beside them was completely dark on their side, making the atmosphere eerier. Sky didn't need any sort of prompt or question to explain himself.

"Ven, Kairi, the Keyblade and even Riku… everything took you away from this place. But you don't mind. Ven has no interest in any one world, he just wants to cease the Keyblade's cycle of darkness. Kairi calls this place home but for want of her original home world she has essentially no interest in these islands. Riku has no patience for such a tiny piece of a much larger picture. Perhaps the only one on the list with even an inkling of sympathy for you is your own weapon. In truth, it's fair to say you've never been your own person – always influenced by another heart trying to eclipse your own and undermining your true self. Also in truth, is that nobody you connected with had any acute sense of devotion to this place as a true home and choose truancy over presence. After all with Riku so in love with Kairi he could only stand to be wherever she is and wherever she wants to be. How much affection did you have for her?"

Sora clenched a fist but said nothing. He grimaced at the words and attempted to argue but he really couldn't be bothered to. Why? Was there really no fault to what Sky was saying?

"I guess," Sora answered, "I was interested in romance. It was everywhere… Elizabeth and Will, Shang and Mulan, Jack and Sally and so many others… it looked like it felt so good. I want it too."

"I wouldn't understand, but I can speculate that love probably does feel good. That's why you would go to the End of the World for them. You have love for them. You have love for Riku and Kairi and Sunni and your mother but you have no idea of romance. Does it really interest you so much?"

"Not really."

"Don't lie."

"Yes… I want to feel it so badly. Kairi doesn't seem to return it and – this is why I don't think about it – I think she's more likely to return Riku's feelings than mine. I'm changing. She doesn't want that. She only wants me to be the innocent boy who will always draw with her, play with her and do childish things while they're together trapped in a stagnant phase of time so that they don't have to think about the rest of the universe. She doesn't have to think that there's a place she has no memory of which she must return to. I wouldn't have to do anything, just smile and be myself so long as I don't change. I hate that way of thinking and being trapped in an unchanging personality but if it would help me feel romance then I was willing to do it. Now that she's back where she belongs there's no point in continuing to pretend that I will never change. Even if I leave a million times the island will not change, but this is home. It doesn't have to change. Knowing that our homes will never change is how people feel safe, isn't it? It's how we choose our homes. It's people who have to change."

"Have you thought about this before?" Sky asked, playing with the zipper on his jacket.

"Not really… in bits and pieces… I haven't tried to put it together before." When Sora suddenly realised the sound of his own voice he burst out laughing. Sky watched him and began to fiddle with a buckle on his pants. Sora doubled over his hysterics and tears dripped from his eyelashes. "Wow! I can't believe it. I sound so meek! What happened to me? I don't know that I really like that change. I think I'm starting to get cynical too. Is that alright? Don't I have a lot to be upset about? Kairi's gone. Most of my life up until now has consisted of some foreign heart invading me and turning me into something I wouldn't be. I think Riku hates me too because I didn't really care that Kairi was gone only because it feels like she's now where she belongs. That isn't wrong, is it?"

"I shouldn't think so." Sky looked up to the lamp, impassive towards Sora's outburst. "It's all fantasy in reality. If you would allow it, there is nothing realistic about this situation. Everything is fantastical and otherwise impossible. Do you want to live in the reality or do you want to finish this chapter and get on with the adventure already?"

"Another quest?" Sora asked. "Why? I just got back. I want to stay with mom and Sunni a little longer."

"That's fine, but you're procrastinating."

"A quest for romance? Or is there really trouble out there?"

"Who knows? If you go on a quest for romance and find trouble that would be fantastical. What do you fight for if the reason you fought in the past has disappeared?" Sky asked, looking back at Sora through the corner of his eye. "Do you even fight at all? Is this the end and I'm being inconsiderate?"

Sora rubbed his arm, feeling the night-time chills as a breeze blew across the intersection. "I have more reasons to fight: to find what's missing. If I'm missing something, then my home isn't complete. Either that or I need to find a new home. But if I don't want to… I just have to find what completes my home. Regardless, I still might have an obligation too. Ven didn't pick me for no reason. I'll finish my job too."

Sky put his hands in his jacket pockets and rocked back on his heels a bit. "Of course."

Sora started pointedly at Sky. "You're a true Nobody aren't you?"

"Yes."

"You have no heart whatsoever."

"Yes."

"Then… Roxas is gone?"

"Did you like him?"

"I did… somewhat. I hardly knew him but he seemed such a cool personality. Is that how Ven was?"

"Perhaps towards the end… but he was like you for the most part. I should think that, after all, you didn't notice the change. He was empathetic enough."

Lights began to disappear from the windows of some houses as the people prepared to sleep. The night grew darker, colder and lonelier.

Sora turned to the sky and gazed at the glittery stars. "Do you think I'll see Kairi again if I go on a quest now?"

"It's a high possibility. You know where she is." Sky stood right beside Sora and grabbed his hand. "Shall we go?"

"Alright… but you'll understand if I want to enjoy myself for a little longer, right?"

"Take your time," Sky said as he began to disappear into Sora, "but don't procrastinate."

Sora was eventually left alone under the bright, white stars.

* * *

'Kay, I didn't explain what happened to Kairi for a reason (other than I just don't like her). I wanted to keep some realism in this chapter: Nobody on the island knows what happened, therefore you don't get to know. And this chapter - in the most basic of colloquial terms - is just me picking at the holes in Sora's friendship circle, especially all the holes around Kairi. If we take what Triton says to be true in KHI and it is imperative to avoid interfering with the affairs of other worlds, then we must take Kairi's friendship with Sora and Riku with a grain (or a handful) of salt because isn't becoming friends and making social connections with the locals creating interferance? Of course, it wasn't Kairi's fault that she ended up on the Destiny Islands.

Is Roxas really gone? I left that open ended, so decide for yourself. Sky didn't answer that question after all. In the past I've alluded to the possibility that Roxas is actually Ven's heart which defected from Sora to become a Nobody of sorts and effectively save Sora from becoming a complete Heartless. I know this is all killing the idea that 'Sora kept his emotions as a Heartless because he's just so special' but I don't buy that.

I also make Shugo Chara references because I'm currently in the process of writing a Kingdom Hearts/Shugo Chara crossover. It's very Shugo Chara and written with the Shugo Chara audience in mind but it's very Kingdom Hearts as well. If you like this story you can read that one too because this stuff and more will be included.

END - finally...


	5. Sneak Peek

It's very unusual for me to make an update the day after the last one but seems that I annoyed a couple of people. Just so you all know, this isn't an actual story with a plot, these are just connected chapters describing my theories about Kingdom Hearts and smoothing out some little details that annoyed me about the games. I did say that I wanted to guillotine this at the previous chapter. It may seem like this is all just beginning but that was sort of the point of writing up my theories: they set up some background that I would rather not spend a lot of time writing about and explaining in an actual story.

**This chapter is just mainly to clear things up. Those last four chapters are just theories setting up for future events in a different story that has little to do with some of the stuff you just read about, yet it is all important background stuff. What this chapter is, is a sneak peek into a future story that you will have to wait for (sorry for the torture). **

**Other reason I wrote this: **did you ever write a story and have this really great scene in your mind, but when you got up to the part where you were hoping to write it the story's gone completely differently or you've just forgotten it? Yeah, I thought this would be a great scene in a future story so I wrote it out to make sure I didn't forget it when I wrote the story. It provides some insight to the kind of plot I'm looking at.

* * *

The streets of Traverse Town were dimmer than usual in the earliest hours of the morning. Only the streetlamps provided any light; their magical, Moogle-made flames flickering gently behind frosty glass. Sora shivered, wishing he had a longer jacket or something. He hugged himself and winced when his bare forearm brushed against his cold crown pendant.

The Second District was empty as usual so he sat down on bench and waited. He could hear his own heart beating and took a shaky breath. They would come. If he sat here long enough they would eventually ignore whatever tasks they were organised into and attack. His heart should be enough.

A clock tower somewhere in town chimed four times. As if that was the cue, dark spots began to appear on the paved ground. Sora jumped up and summoned the Kingdom Key. The black spots took shape and emerged from the ground as Shadows and Neoshadows. Naturally, it would be these types that would defect first.

Sora made the first move. He stabbed at a Shadow and swiped at the rest. The Neoshadows had the sense to jump out of the way. They leaped forward with their claws bared. Sora did a backwards somersault to avoid them and they crashed into each other. Sora dashed forward and took advantage of the uncoordinated mess-up. He swung widely at them, catching all of them with each strike. Wisps of the darkness that made up their bodies began to escape them, signalling their near defeat. However, before Sora could finish them off a neglected Shadow leaped onto his chest. Its peers followed, as well as the Neoshadows. Sora gritted his teeth as he became completely eclipsed by the swarming dark creatures.

"Firagun!" he screamed. The Heartless were thrown back by a whirlwind of fire originating from Sora's body. He swung the Kingdom Key into a defensive grip. The keychain was right in his face. He pulled another one out of his pocket, only giving it a glimpse before quickly replacing the current keychain. The Kingdom Key glowed and its form morphed until it became the Pumpkinhead. The Heartless recovered quickly. One of them got up and rushed straight for him. He bashed it across the side of the head, sending it into the wall. Some tried a similar method while others disappeared into the ground to creep up on him. Sora wasn't fooled by any tactics. The great thing about Heartless is that they didn't have the ability to learn. Sora countered the familiar strategies until all Heartless had completely disappeared into nothing but wisps of smoke. They left behind the loot they'd been carrying in mini-chests that Sora gathered up. He put them down on a bench and began to sift through them.

"Sora!"

Sora looked up to the familiar quack and saw Donald waving at him from above the fountain. He quickly dashed around to the stairs and came to meet Sora.

"Donald! Did they drop anything?"

"Not much," Donald replied ruefully. He took a single chest out of his pocket. "Just this…"

"What's in it?"

Donald opened it and took out the object within. "It's a syringe. What would the Heartless want with a syringe?!"

Sora shrugged. "I'm just as confused. I mean, look at the stuff I've pulled out: a scalpel, a spool of thread, a soldering iron, a roll of copper… what do the Heartless want with all this stuff?"

"It's not the Heartless," Donald corrected him, "Whoever's controlling them. That's the only explanation."

"Hey guys!"

They turned to the familiar voice of their friend Goofy. He stood in the entrance of the corridor leading to Third District waving a little black thing above his head like a rag doll. It appeared to be knocked out.

"Mission accomplished! Hyuck!"

Goofy joined Donald and Sora at the bench. Sora examined the creature Goofy had while Donald forced his magic into the new items so that they'd be able to fit into the bottomless pockets with everything else. It was a Shadow Heartless. It yellow eyes were rolling around in nonexistent sockets. Its antennae curled at the ends but were otherwise limp. Its body was long and thin and its limbs were proportioned accordingly. Those features alone distinguished it from other ordinary Shadows, but the most peculiar thing about it was a white scar on its head that had thick grey stitches sewn across it.

"Is that the one?" Donald asked.

Sora nodded. "That's the one that ran away."

"Heartless don't have the sense to run away!" Donald argued.

"But this one's really different," Goofy said, holding it at eyelevel. "Maybe that scar on its head has something to do with it."

The Shadow shook its head of the dizziness and glared at Goofy. It raised its claws and scratched him across the face. Goofy howled as the Heartless kicked him in the snout and wriggled out of his grasp.

"Catch it!" Sora exclaimed, diving for it himself. It hopped out of his way like a frog. Donald attempted to catch it, chasing it around the fountain. Eventually he got impatient and just cast a Thundaga spell on it. It was stunned for a moment, giving Sora enough time to snatch it up and hold it tightly against his chest.

"I don't get it," Goofy said, smearing a bit of a potion on his scratches, healing them in an instant. Sora and Donald looked to him for clarification. "How come this one doesn't teleport? Can't it do it?"

The Heartless' antennae drooped sadly and it shook its head. The trio stared at it wide-eyed.

"It can understand us?" Donald squawked.

Sora loosened his grip on the Shadow and held it up at eyelevel as Goofy had done. "Hey, we won't hurt you if you don't try to steal our hearts, okay?"

The Heartless nodded and put a hand to its own chest, thumping lightly against it in intervals of two. Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion and brought the Heartless closer, listening to its chest. Sure enough, just as the creature had hinted to him, there was the beat of a physical organ inside the thin, dark body. Sora gasped and suddenly freaked. He threw the Heartless back and stumbled into the fountain, landing with a splash and his legs sticking up in the air in a manner less than dignified. Goofy and Donald laughed at him. The Heartless sat up and applauded the amusing display. Sora lowered his legs and sat up in the shallow water completely soaked and his dripping hair was limp but he still had a bewildered look in his eyes.

"Someone's putting hearts in Heartless…?" he muttered.

"How can you do that?" Donald asked, staring at the bizarre Heartless sitting on the ground scratching a pattern in a cobblestone.

"Not a heart-heart," Sora replied, standing up and taking off his jacket it to wring it, "An organ to pump blood."

"Heartless don't need blood," Goofy said.

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "So there's no reason to be putting blood in a Heartless. What kind of twisted experiment is this?"

* * *

Yeah... mull that over in your heads for a while.

**BTW: if you want to read more then go to my profile and look for a story called The Shadows of the Universe. It's the story this chapter is spoiling and it draws on stuff from the last four chapters too.**

And about that bottomless pockets comment: I don't see any other way how those guys would be able to carry all that crap with them on their journey and not have it weigh them down. The answer: magical bottomless pockets! It's all logic.


End file.
